#14 - Count Vertigo
First Appearance: World's Finest Comics #251 (Jul 1978)
"Suicide wouldn't be so bad if I wasn't so cowardly." ~Count Vertigo
Here's an example of how my scoring system might not be all it's cracked up to be: Count Vertigo scored perfect scores across the board, except in the category you might find most important - Impact on Bat-mythos.
Frankly, I don't care. Because Count Vertigo is my second favorite villain of all time.
Let's start with Suicide Squad, where Vertigo went from an interesting but unnecessary villain, transforming into the unique, layered villain I love so much. First of all, they were working with a great palette; Vertigo's power is truly unique, and artistically, there's always something cool to do with it. The expression of disorientation on the page is always a highlight of an issue with Vertie, giving the artist the ability to really play with color and lighting, and obviously perspective. So I always dig the one-of-a-kind role Vertie plays in that regards. He's also got a great costume that really sums him up; it's regal and yet still maintains a hint of villainy without coming across as flat-out evil, and that's perfect for a slimeball like the Count, who can gracefully go from the darkest side of evil to the light side of anti-hero in any given issue.
Suicide Squad really highlights that, as his work with the Suicide Squad started to bring out other new pieces of info with the Count - mainly that he was the crown prince of Vlatava. Vlatava, a country so bereft of evil that the Spectre literally wiped it off of the face of the Earth. So how did Vertie survive? Literally was committing a crime somewhere else. Of course, that by itself doesn't make him amazing, but it's a really solid start. I love that he's bipolar and has to take medication and also deal with it a lot. It's not characterized ridiculously, but he can be really depressed sometimes, which makes things freaking hilarious. Imagine trying to corral a team of villains and here's one guy that's just like "I wish I was dead." "Go attack that monster!" "Ah... what's the point? We're all going to die anyways." I love it.
Count Vertigo also features in one of my favorite eps of BTAS as well as being one of those go-to bad guys whenever there's need for a group of villains. A lot of the biggest Batman storylines end up involving Vertie since he's just so Vertie-satile. That was a terrible pun, and I don't care, because it's true: Count Vertigo fits in perfectly in ANY franchise. And he has; from Batman (and he's appeared in Bat titles at least twenty times just counting the issues I own), Superman, Green Lantern, Flash, Suicide Squad, Justice League, Justice Society... the guy has tangled with everyone in the DCU, and it works so well because his power is so all-encompassing. Supergod powers don't mean squat if you can't figure out which way is up and you have no focus. Vertigo is the ultimate troll, and I love it.
Obviously this is one of the villains where my opinion gets to totally veto all common sense on this list, but let's face it: Vertigo is well-designed, well-characterized, smart, crafty, oily, well-spoken and a joy to simply LOOK AT in comics. That's a job well done.
Greatest Count Vertigo Story Ever Told:Arrow - Go watch this show. Vertigo's role on the show was really as the first legit big bad in the series, portrayed by that guy from Fringe who never was in the main cast even though he was pretty cool. A well-done portrayal that really helped solidify the series as it began.